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What's this blog about?

When I told my next door neighbor in May of 2008 that I was going to sell the house along with all of my personal possessions and move to Chiclayo Peru with my Peruvian wife, his response was..” That’s a path not many men walk.” I had that impression as well, but have since learned that many men and women have walked and continue to walk that path. There is a large expatriate community in Lima and a significant number of gringos scattered about the remainder of the country from the larger coastal cities to the smallest jungle villages. Many of them have personal blogs in which they offer travel advice, news, and a wealth of other information along with their individual experiences. The purpose of this blog is not so far reaching. My intent is simply to record my experiences and observations for family, friends and anyone else who may be interested, but mostly for myself. Peru is to me a musical, magical land and I’ve found that writing about it helps me to preserve the beauty I experience as I explore this enchanting country. Anyway, thanks for visiting my site. Feel free to come back again, and leave a comment if you’d care to or send an email to me at kaetan1@gmail.com.

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Saturday, October 7, 2017

What do I do with this blog?

I don’t know what to do with this blog. Over the years there
have been readers from 140+ countries. Many were one-time visitors, some were
occasional and others constant. I assume all had/have at least a passing
interest in Peru. Some have sent emails to me with questions about Peru
regarding just about every topic you could think of. I’m proud to say
that I was able to answer the majority of their questions. Several Americans
have told me that they retired to communities in Peru based in part on information I
had given them. All of the information and opinions I offered to those who
wrote to me and in this blog came from first-hand exposure. I saw, felt and
experienced nearly everything I wrote about. Name a major city in Peru and I’ve
been there, with Tumbes being the single exception. Name a tiny remote desert
village in the Lambayeque Region and chances are I can name the school teacher
and president of the parent’s association. Now I no longer live in Peru.

The question is, what do I do with a blog titled ‘My Slice
of Peru’ when I am no longer in Peru? I could continue it…I have friends and
family in Peru, and I do read several Peruvian on-line newspapers so I am informed
and could write about happenings in Peru, but second-hand information is not
the same. If I can’t see, smell and feel something first-hand I can’t bring
life to the words I write. I’ve discovered this with Maribel’s sister Magali
sending reports to me about villages she’s visited as our Promesa Peru
representative. Taking her words and trying to describe a village, school or
person I haven’t seen feels to me like I’m writing blind.

I enjoy writing. When
I come across something of interest to me I like to share it with anyone else
who might have similar interests. I’ve been asking myself if anyone would be interested
in a blog titled My Slice of Rossville, Georgia. Certainly the people who live
in this area don’t need to read about it, and it really isn’t all that
different from anywhere else in the country anyway. So what do I do? While I’m trying to decide, let me talk a bit about our
life here in Rossville so far.

We don’t really live in the city of Rossville. As far as I
can tell we live in the township of Rossville. We have city water but because
we don’t live in the city we have to pay a private contractor to remove trash.
That’s okay with me. Our house is in a semi country setting. The only noise we
hear is lawn mowers on weekends, an occasional dog barking and if the wind is
right the distant sound of traffic on US 2, otherwise known as Battlefield
Parkway. The quiet is one major difference from Chiclayo, and is much
appreciated.

Speaking of battlefield, the Chickamauga Battlefield Park is
an eight-minute drive from our house. It is a huge parcel of land comprised of
fields and forests. There is a visitor center with knowledgeable park rangers.
There are free maps of auto tour routes and hiking trails. Everywhere in the
park, even in the thickest parts of the forest are monuments to various
military units, indicating which unit, what action they were involved in and
the date and time. There are other monuments erected by the various states
honoring soldiers and units from their states. Walking one of the trails during
the early morning or late afternoon and sharing paths with deer that are
unafraid of humans is an uplifting experience. We do this two or three times
each week.

Working in our backyard, getting it to be what we want is
another enjoyable activity. I cut a lot of brush and scrub trees during the
first month here, which resulted in a huge brush pile. Burning regulations in
Georgia are strict, so we’re burning the pile a little at a time in the outdoor
grill we built. We both like to sit outside at sunset, watching the smoke from
the dying fire twirl slowly into the air and enjoying the aroma of a wood fire.

A couple times each week we drive into the city (sounds
like a country bumpkin, doesn’t it?). The city is downtown Chattanooga, only 15
minutes from our house. There really isn’t much to downtown Chattanooga but
what there is is worth seeing. The area at the north end of Broad Street is
centered around the aquarium; probably the top attraction in Chattanooga. There
are nice views of the Tennessee River to be had from many vantage points. Broad
and Market streets offer many restaurants, some jewelry stores and a few
novelty shops, but there is a disappointing lack of boutiques and other
businesses that would attract tourists and local shoppers to the area. Or maybe
we just haven’t found them yet.

Serious shoppers go to the Hamilton Place commercial
district. The center piece is the enclosed two-level mall featuring the usual
selection of mall shops and a food court. Surrounding the mall are many large
chain stores…Kohls, Target, Walmart, Pier1 and a host of others. Restaurants
include Red Lobster, Outback Steak House and others. To walk through every store
in the district would probably take from
two to three days.

There are many antique shops in the area, some small,
others the size of a mall. We like to walk through these shops, not looking for
anything in particular though we did buy a vintage telephone table and hall
mirror to use as a sort of memorial to Maribel’s mother. We were surprised at
how rapidly items in the stores disappear, to be replaced by other things. The
old adage, ‘one person’s junk is another person’s treasure’ certainly applies
here.

There are several changes we want to make to the house.
Neither of us will be fully comfortable calling it “home” until those changes
are made, though we have no regrets about buying it. And we have no regrets
about returning to the USA. That said, we are talking more lately about
planning a visit to our home in Chiclayo, but that’s a way off yet. In the
meantime, what do I do with this blog?